Outsourcing versus retaining in-house capability to fulfill Naval Postgraduate School's family housing maintenance requirements

Abstract

The objective of this research is to determine if it would be beneficial to retain the in-house capability to perform maintenance of the military family housing under the purview of the Naval Postgraduate School's (NPS) Family Housing Division. The alternative to this status quo would be to eliminate the in- house capability and outsource the required maintenance. The significance of this question stems from the nearly tripling, as of October 1994, of the number of housing units under the purview of the NPS Family Housing Division. The resulting increase in maintenance responsibilities will significantly increase the resources managed and utilized by Housing. To address this question a comparison of FY93 maintenance and costs between NPS and Naval installations at Point Mugu, CA; China Lake, CA; and Mare Island, CA, which outsourced their family housing maintenance, was made. This comparison included a comparison of costs in eleven maintenance categories and in total maintenance costs. Four possible causes of differences in costs were examined. These included differences in the number and size of units, local economic conditions, structural conditions of units, and change of occupancy rates. This study concludes that outsourcing the military family housing maintenance requirements at NPS does not appear to be cost beneficial.